Users of mobile devices such as, e.g., business professionals and consumers commonly carry a variety of mobile devices with them at any given time. Examples of mobile devices include communications devices and computing devices such as, e.g., mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and portable computers including, e.g., (but not limited to) handheld, tablet, subnotebook, notebook, and laptop personal computers (PCs), etc.
Mobile devices are designed for portability. Thus, these mobile devices are compact in size and light in weight, making the mobile devices easy to use. As devices shrink in size, and as more users carry multiple mobile devices at one time, the possibility of theft or loss of one or more of the multiple mobile devices increases. As data capacities grow, the mobile devices are able to store an ever-increasing amount of data including proprietary or confidential information. For example, personal contact information of customers may be stored by a business professional in a personal information manager (PIM) application program. Other information such as, e.g., (but not limited to) proprietary financial, trade secret, and strategic planning information, etc. may be stored on such devices. Thus, loss or misappropriation of such mobile devices may result in a substantial loss of valuable information.
Since these mobile devices are inherently easy to lose, each of the types of mobile devices generally is shipped with security features. An example of a conventional security feature for a mobile device, includes, e.g., but not limited to a password based locking scheme that prevents unauthorized use of the mobile device in the event of loss or theft. Unfortunately, most people do not use these locking schemes. Locking schemes are not generally used for several reasons. For example, because conventionally such locking schemes require separate passwords from other passwords already required by other applications and devices, some users of the mobile devices find their use an inconvenience. Also, conventionally, the locking schemes are not used because the usability of the device may be undermined if the mobile device must be unlocked each time prior to usage.